Lumiere London 2018: Map, Information And Photos

Guy Parsons

19 Jan 2018

Lumiere London is back! See a map and information on all the artworks on offer.

Running from Thursday, January 18 to Sunday, January 21, Lumiere London features 50 glowing artworks installed in Central London locations, lit up each night between 5.30pm and 11pm. A previous edition of the event was extremely busy, so we’d recommend avoiding Saturday, and prepared for crowds in certain places. Now read on for our guide to all 51 artworks and how to see them!

The Lumiere London 2018 Map

The Lumiere map above gives you a rough sense of where the light installations are clustered: the West End and Mayfair, Westminster and Victoria, the Southbank, Kings Cross, and Fitzrovia. For a more detailed view, you can get a downloadable, zoomable and printable map for just £1 (or more, if you’d like to support the organisers) from the event website – this contains the exact location of every Lumiere artwork.

The best things to see at Lumiere London

We’ve chosen some of our favourites in the video above, both big and small. Some major artworks are installed in large spaces which should help avoid overcrowding: Waterlicht in Granary Square, Child Hood in Trafalgar Square, and The Light Of The Spirit at Westminster Abbey are the three biggest examples.

6) BE FAITHFUL TO YOUR DREAMS

7) LOVE MOTION

A new digital artwork projected onto the facade of the Royal Academy, by recent graduate Rhys Coren. Find it in the RA Courtyard.

8) VOYAGE

See the Hotel Royal in Piccadilly Circus transformed with projections that take viewers on a journey through time and space. Designed by Camille Gross and Leslie Epsztein.

9) FRICTIONS

This geometric projection on 103 Regent Street will make the building appear to shift size and shape constantly. Images to follow on this one…

10) SHAIDA WALKING 2015

Photo: @gabrio1976

This cool, constantly-walking plinth is a permanent installation on Carnaby Street, but is listed as part of the festival. Cheating!

11) PLUG & BULBS

Photo: @veronicka781

These colourful overhead lights from James Glancy Design are also a permanent feature, but worth posing with while you’re in the area.

12) ORIGIN OF THE WORLD BUBBLE

A giant orb floating above Oxford Circus will display constantly shifting patterns in response to movement below. (Don’t get run over!) Designed by Miguel Chevalier.

13) AQUARIRUM

Photo: @jinwoo_seo

A red telephone box is transformed into an aquarium on Seven Dials’ Earlham Street, in this creation from Benedetto Bufalino and Benoit Deseille.

14) FLAMINGO FLYAWAY

Flamingo lanterns will be parading through Chinatown during the festival.

15) NIGHTLIFE

Photo: The Lantern Company

Glowing nature-themed lanterns from Jo Pockcok and The Lantern Company can be found in Leicester Square Gardens.

Lumiere installations in London and Victoria

16) ESCHELLE

Photo: @avant.arte

This inviting neon ladder from Ron Haselden can be found – but not climbed! – in St Martin-in-the-Fields.

17) CHILD HOOD

Collectif Coin present a hypnotic field of illuminated balloons in Trafalgar Square.

18) THE ROSE

This beautiful installation of illuminated plastic bottles is powered by a public pedal bike. Designed by Mick Stephenson, you can see it in Westminster Cathedral.

19) ASALTO LONDON

Photo: Matthew Andrews

Figures (that are actually captured from real local residents) appear to slowly climb Westminster City Hall in this piece by Daniel Canogar.

20) THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRIT (CHAPTER 2)

Photo: @hayleyannajames

Perhaps the most famous installation from 2016’s Lumiere Festival, this projection from Patrice Warrener France will once more turn Westminster Abbey’s inconspicuous figurines into technicolour marvels. And this year, a whole new part of the building will also receive the psychedelic treatment.

21) THE UMBRELLA PROJECT

Photo: @lordjimmy84

Keep an eye out for performers from the local community with their eye-catching, glow-in-the-dark brollies. This roving performance is brought to you by Cirque Bijou.

Lumiere installations in Fitzrovia

22) CONTROL NO CONTROL

Daniel Iregui’s interactive LED cube responds to the touch of visitors. Give it a stroke at Whitfield Gardens.

40) SIXTY MINUTE SPECTRUM

The pyramid skylights on the roof of the Hayward Gallery slowly cycle through the colour spectrum every hour, in an installation by David Batchelor. (The cranes behind are not part of Lumiere, but also pretty cool if you ask us!)

48) ENTRE LES RANGES

49) AETHER

The Architecture Social Club and music producer Max Cooper join forces to reveal a glittering, dynamic artwork in the West Handyside Canopy.

50) DECONSTRUCTING THE DOMESTIC

Find five pieces from Nathaniel Rackowe around the Universal Building.

51) A LIGHT BITE TO EAT

If all that sounds exhausting, worry not. Seven London restaurants have conspired to offer the ‘Dine Your Way’ package, so you can have a cocktail at one venue to start your explorations, a main course at a second restaurant half-way through, and a dessert and nightcap at a third, when your journey is done. Find out more here.